Posts from 2016

by David L. Kirp

Monica Ramos
Although it’s been a long time, I vividly recall my reaction when I learned that I had been admitted to Amherst College: The admissions office must have made a terrible mistake.
I had graduated from a Long Island high school where most students didn’t go to college, so I was convinced th… More

by David L. Kirp

Lilli Carré
Half a dozen police cars ring the entrance to the Morris Educational Campus in the Bronx. To enter this venerable Gothic-style building, I have to make my way through a phalanx of policemen and be scanned by a metal detector.
But the show of force doesn’t signal that the high school stud… More

A California court recently reversed a decision that would have weakened teacher employment protections. Economist Jesse Rothstein discusses the tradeoffs between job security and attracting new teachers.

Third grade teacher Lynn Haskins talks to students at a school in Shingletown, California, on May 25, 2016.
Political and legal battles surrounding teacher tenure and seniority have been raging in California over the past couple of years. In 2014, in Vergara v. California, a Los Angeles County Supe… More